Sato wore a smirk in his eyes. He mumbled something toward the two team leaders who were each trying to take him. He muttered through his lips for quite a while, and seeing this, Vladimir slightly loosened the parachute cord that was tightly tied around the back of Sato's neck.
Sato spat out the coin that had been in his mouth along with the cord. He licked the wound at the corner of his mouth caused by the cord with his tongue. A fang peeked slightly between his lips. Sin Haeryang glared at Vladimir as if to blame him for loosening it. Instead, Vladimir asked Sin Haeryang,
"Why was his mouth gagged?"
"Did it not occur to you that I gagged him because I didn't want to listen?"
In the grim atmosphere, Sato spoke brazenly.
"......Who would have thought a Japanese man would be this popular at an undersea base. I should have visited Baekho-dong with a gun sooner. Had I been too indifferent to Russia and Korea?"
Even with two team leaders before him who looked ready to devour him, Sato showed little change in expression. If they took engineer team names in the order of winning at poker, would Engineer Team Na be second?
In my opinion, Sin Haeryang was also quite an unusual person, but Team Leader Sato seemed no less peculiar in terms of personality. Sin Haeryang calmly asked Sato,
"Sato. I never thought you'd go around shooting people with a gun. Didn't you say you were going to listen to a symphony by Handel or something today?"
"It was Handel. ......Team Leader Sin. It's not like I'm doing this because I enjoy it."
"I know from seeing the gunshot wounds on Dmitri and Irina's bodies, but you were quite a poor shot. Have you never fired live ammunition?"
"Hmm. I did quite a bit of hologram shooting, though. It wasn't as helpful as I thought. I really wanted to hit your head at least once. A shame."
Sin Haeryang didn't bat an eye at Sato's provocation. Instead, he sneered lightly and asked something else.
"Is Engineer Team Ra in Cheongnyong-dong about the same level as your team?"
"Who knows. Didn't Hai Yun give you any hint? I heard you two were dating. You're merciless in that regard, I see."
Sin Haeryang had said he wasn't dating Hai Yun. Then the person's own statement must be the correct one. It seemed rumors that the two were dating had been circulating around the undersea base. Completely ignoring Sato's answer, Sin Haeryang asked another question.
"Two of our team members have disappeared. Seen them?"
"Your team members are all in Hyeonmu-dong. We were holding them."
"Do you think I'd believe that? If you keep spewing nonsense, I'll hand you over to Deputy Team Leader Nikita right away. He's still clumsy with a knife, so it looks like he carved Ichita's face crookedly, but I'm sure he'll improve with practice."
The gazes of Sato and the nearby Takahashi fell on Ichita's face, lying on the floor. Next to Ichita, Nikita crouched with his hands and face soaked in blood, looking at the two living Japanese men.
After seeing his younger brother's corpse, Nikita had become drastically taciturn. He used to talk and laugh with his teammates, but now it seemed nothing remained in him except rage and murderous intent. Sato, looking at Nikita, sighed and spoke to Sin Haeryang.
"It's true. They begged for their lives, so out of consideration for you, we stripped them naked and threw them into the mining team quarters."
From afar, Seo Jihyeok's head, which had been standing guard facing Central District, swiveled sharply back toward them. Could the conversation here really be heard all the way over there? Before Sin Haeryang could reply, Vladimir quickly cut in.
"Really? What about our guys? Sato. Got no consideration for me?"
Vladimir, who had lost two team members, smacked Sato's cheek hard with his large hand, producing a sharp crack. Sato's expressionless face cracked for the first time. He furrowed one eyebrow as if nursing a headache and answered.
"I feel sorry about Dmitri and Irina's situation. I never intended to shoot them dead. Strictly speaking, it was an accident. ......I'm more curious about how you found the bodies. I thought I'd hidden them fairly well."
"You feel sorry? What do you have to say about breaking the escape pod so they'd die in it?"
Sato answered shamelessly. Rather, Takahashi beside him was fidgeting restlessly.
"Seeing you all alive and well like this, it seems I've failed spectacularly. And your side killed three of our team members too. Since one more died, I suppose we lost. Congratulations."
Vladimir made an expression that seemed to ask, what kind of guy even is this? Beside him, Sin Haeryang said with a scowl,
"I told you I didn't want to hear him."
Sato scanned his surroundings, then looked at me as I confirmed Ichita's death and suddenly smiled, speaking to me. So I thought I had misheard.
"It's been a while, sir."
......Wow. This is pretty chilling. I don't know why he's greeting me as happily as if he were meeting a mentor after ten years, but I have no connection whatsoever with you. I just hope the people around me don't think I'm in cahoots with Engineer Team Na.
Jeong Sanghyeon and Kim Jaehui, who had been looking at a pad near me, took a step back and quickly moved away from my side. Heh heh heh.
"Yes. It's my first time seeing you outside the dental clinic. I still haven't received any response regarding the dental braces."
There were no conventional pleasantries to offer. Questions like how've you been, how's the weather, or how are things lately all had to be chucked into the trash. I answered Sato while firmly erecting an invisible iron wall. At that, Sato shrugged and said,
"I'm not sure what you've done, but rather than my teeth, you should be more concerned about your own safety, sir."
......I wonder why he's threatening me. Surely this isn't advice or something like that? Both team leaders looked at me too, and their gazes weren't exactly friendly.
"But I haven't done anything except dental treatment?"
I really haven't done a thing. The only unusual things I've done are getting my side torn by a shark, getting shot in the head, and drinking a lot of seawater. Compared to things like breaking escape pods, tormenting people who were minding their own business, or shooting people dead with guns like you, aren't these utterly trivial matters?
No matter how many times I think about it...... I think you should be the one worried. Both Vladimir and Sin Haeryang look like they want to kill you every time you open your mouth.
"Well. It seems quite a few people don't think so."
Sin Haeryang made a light gesture to Vladimir. I didn't know what the gesture meant, but it felt like he was saying you take him. Sato's gaze passed over Nikita, who was staring straight at him, and looked at the figure beyond Nikita's shoulder. Watching Baek Ayeong's back as she stood far away, he spoke to the two team leaders.
"......I like Baek Ayeong better than Nikita. Unlike Ivanov, I'm not into older women."
As if there was nothing more to hear, Sin Haeryang swung his fist and struck Sato. Even though Sato had only been hit once in the face, his head snapped more than ninety degrees to the side, and he immediately lost consciousness.
Listening to the conversation from the side, it seemed Sin Haeryang had carved the character for endurance into himself over three times. ......I was wondering when he'd hit him. Sato really did need a tooth extracted for his braces, but who knew it'd come from a fist blow like that. Vladimir gestured with his chin to call a team member. Then Viktor grabbed one of Sato's ankles and dragged him away to the side.
Takahashi, who had been watching this whole spectacle from the side, seemed out of it. Though he had been captured, he had probably expected his team leader to beg here and there for his life, yet he seemed to have never expected Sato to hurl every sort of crude provocation and then get knocked out and dragged away.
Perhaps Team Leader Sato had been prepared to not die easy ever since he was disarmed and captured, whether at the hands of the Russians or the Koreans. Watching Sato being dragged away with a blank expression, fear began to settle in Takahashi's eyes. He had belatedly realized it was now his turn. Sin Haeryang gestured with his chin toward Ichita's corpse and spoke to Takahashi.
"Takahashi. If you're dragged away to Engineer Team Da, you're literally a dead man. Not only will they never let you live, they'll torture you agonizingly until the moment you die."
Then Takahashi muttered as if bewildered.
"No way. I...... I didn't shoot the Russian guys! It was Ichita and Yamashita who did that. Why should I suffer for it?"
"Then why did you come here smashing the CCTV?"
"......"
"Have you seen our team members?"
Takahashi answered as if squeezing the words from his throat.
"......They're in Hyeonmu-dong."
"Earlier you said they were in Cheongnyong-dong."
"......Even if I tell the truth, you're just going to hand me over to the Russians anyway!"
Takahashi shouted in a desperate voice. Sin Haeryang answered as if Takahashi's words were pathetic.
"If you shot my team members dead with guns and dumped them somewhere, I could become an even crazier bastard than the Engineer Team Da guys."
Hearing those words, Takahashi flinched and looked around. He seemed to be searching for anyone who would take his side, but he didn't seem to find much. Not only the Engineer Team Da members but also the Engineer Team Ga members were looking at Takahashi with cold eyes. Whether Tumanako and Carlos had determined they couldn't really help him or not, Takahashi's face only grew darker.
"We didn't kill them. We've never killed anyone! I haven't even seen them in the first place! Except for a few American and Canadian engineers, I only saw mining team people. I swear."
"The CCTV?"
"Someone told us to do it."
"Who told you?"
Takahashi hemmed and hawed before answering uncomfortably.
"......Religious people told us to smash the CCTVs and go. They said something about being seen on CCTV, but I don't know the details."
"Religion? The Church of Infinity?"
Takahashi stared blankly at me and then nodded. ......I had no idea why he was looking at me. A bad feeling crept over me.
Sin Haeryang made a gesture to Vladimir similar to the earlier one. It probably meant to take this one too. Then Nikolai and Sofiya hooked their arms around Takahashi's two arms. With both wrists tied in front, Takahashi was dragged away without being able to resist the hands pulling him.
"Wait! Wasn't Engineer Team Ga supposed to take me?!"
"If our team members are dead, I'll come find you."
"Wait! Hold on! This isn't right!"
Takahashi shouted wildly, and at the same time, a gunshot rang out. Seo Jihyeok was firing his gun, and I grabbed Tumanako and Kim Jaehui, who were standing beside me, and immediately threw myself to the ground.